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Christine Caine tells students to take risks for the kingdom

Christine Caine, founder of The A21 Campaign, an organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking, challenged students to “live radical, revolutionary lives,” during Monday’s Convocation. Her speech garnered a standing ovation.

Caine has received the highest honor for her work, including the Hero of Human Trafficking Award from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Caine and her husband, Nick, founded The A21 Campaign in 2008. They also lead Equip & Empower Ministries and are members of the leadership team at Hillsong Church in her native Sydney, Australia. She has written five books.

Caine last spoke at Liberty in 2012. On Monday, she told students that from a very young age, people are programmed to apply for the lowest risk job, to focus on making the right amount of money, and to attain security in life.

“If you live life without taking risks, you will never, ever fulfill what God has called you to do because nothing about life is safe,” she said.

She told students that Jesus did not come to earth so that Christians could live comfortable, complacent lives.

“God has given us gifts and talents for the purpose of serving our generation, and we as Christians should not live like everybody else, because we know we are going to live forever with Jesus,” she said. “In this very short amount of time called life, you and I ought to live risky lives.”

She encouraged students to use whichever career field they are called into to advance God’s kingdom on earth.

“I want to see a generation of young Christian people rise up who will say, ‘I am not going to sell out to the values of this world, I am not going to live a boring, predictable life, and I want God to use my life to count so I can do something incredibly significant for my generation,’” Caine said.

Caine added that she wonders if there is a generation that is willing to look foolish for the cause of Christ.

Liberty University graduate students Christine McClintock (left) and Ashley Wiktorek, who lead a group study of Christine Caine's book "Undaunted," had an opportunity to meet the author after her Convocation message.

“From Genesis to Revelation, never did anyone achieve anything without first looking like a fool to the rest of the world,” she said. “In our world of celebrity and greed, God is (asking), ‘Is there a generation that is prepared to be different and foolish and not sell out?’”

Liberty graduate students Christine McClintock and Ashley Wiktorek lead a group of 15 young women through Caine’s book “Undaunted” every Monday night in their apartment.

The two were excited to meet Caine after Convocation and take a photograph with her.

“When we started reading the book, we were challenged to do what God has called us to do, and we felt a burden on our heart from God to share that with other girls in our community,” McClintock said.